Friday, May 13, 2016

Lumbini, Nepal

Lumbini, is a Buddhist pilgrimage website situated at the Nepalese city of Kapilavastu, district Rupandehi, near the India. This place is one of four Buddhist pilgrimage sites supported major events within the lifetime of Siddhartha. It is interesting that all of the events occurred under trees.The other 3 sites area unit in India: Bodh Gaya (enlightenment), Sarnath (first discourse), and Kushinagar (death).

History of Lumbini

Lumbini is the traditional birthplace of Siddhartha, the founder of Buddhism, who was born in the seventh or sixth century B.C..

According to Buddhist tradition, coulda Devi (or Mayadevi) gave birth to the Buddha on her thanks to her parent's target Devadaha within the month of May within the year 642 B.C.. Feeling the onset of labor pains, she grabbed hold of the branches of a shade tree and gave birth to Siddharta Gautama. The Buddha is stated to own announced, "This is my final rebirth" as he set foot in the world. Buddhist practice also has it that he walked instantly once his birth and took seven steps, under every of that a lotus flower bloomed.

In 249 BC, the Buddhist convert Emperor Ashoka visited Lumbini and constructed four stupas and a stone pillar. Ashoka's Pillar bears an carving that interprets as: "King Piyadasi (Ashoka), beloved of devas, in the 20 year of the initiation, himself made a royal visit, Buddha Sakyamuni having been born here, a stone railing was built and a stone pillar constructed to the Bhagavan"blessed one" having been born here. 

Monasteries and temples were built at Lumbini till the ninth century, but Buddhism declined in the space once the arrival of Islam and later Hinduism. All that prevailed was statue, revered by local girls as a fertility image. The garden of the Buddha's birth was lost for a thousand years.

The site was re-detected in 1895 AD, when a German anthropologist came upon Ashoka's Pillar, discovered by its engraving. Records made by the Chinese pilgrim solfa syllable Singan were conjointly used in the method of distinctive this religiously acclaimed website. Lumbini was designated a United Nations agency World Heritage website in 1997.

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